The Unit on Economic Cooperation and Integration among Developing Countries was created by the UNCTAD Secretary-General in July 2009, reinforcing the institution´s work on the reshaping of the global economic development architecture in which South-South cooperation is playing a growing role.

The Unit aims to build on UNCTAD`s longstanding work on the opportunities and challenges surrounding a renewed trend towards closer economic cooperation and integration among developing countries, work which goes back to its establishment in 1964.

News

​UNCTAD organized the third and fourth sessions of the Multi-year Expert Meeting on Promoting Economic Integration and Cooperation at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on 14 and 15 April 2016, according to the terms agreed by the Trade and Development Board at its fifty-seventh executive session on 26–28 June 2013.

Representatives from members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met from 9 to 11 March 2016 in Accra, Ghana, to define a regional strategy for the negotiations on the African Continental Free Trade Area.

UNCTAD and the Global Network of Exim Banks and Development Finance Institutions (G-NEXID), meeting in Geneva on 19th May 2015, agreed to work together to promote understanding of south-south cooperation and the role of banks in financing development.

A workshop held at UNCTAD on 3-4 October 2013 brought together policymakers, negotiators and experts to discuss recent experiences with capital account regulation, and what changes in global governance might be needed to facilitate re-regulation of cross-border finance.